The present invention relates generally to a belt tightening device for securing loads to truck beds and the like. More particularly a novel free standing strap fastening device is disclosed which allows a belt to be tightened without moving the device.
A wide of strap fastening devices have been devised for tightening cargo straps to firmly secure cargo to truck and trailer beds during transportation. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,428,331; 3,697,048; 3,848,889; 4,045,002; and 4,382,736 all disclosure load fasteners adapted to tightly hold cargo to various trailer vehicles. Such load fasteners or cargo winches are typically fixably mounted to a truck trailer and the straps they secure are extended over the cargo and hooked to a loop or another fastener on the opposite side of the truck. The load fasteners are then cinched down to securely hold the bulk cargo on the trailer.
Other load fasteners are free standing. In one such device, a rotatable drum is carried by a frame. A lever arm, also rotatably coupled to the frame carries a pair of pawl arrangements which couple with an associated pair of ratchets carried on opposite sides of the drum. The drum includes a single longitudinal slot that is adapted to receive the strap to be tightened. The strap is threaded through the longitudinal slot. To tighten the strap, an operator moves the lever arm back and forth thereby rotating the drum with respect to the frame, which causes the strap to wrap thereabout. One drawback of such free standing devices is that they will move relative to the load while slack is being taken up. Such movement is undesirable since it can damage the cargo.